Entrance test plan meets cold response

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's plan to expand the state university enrollment test to twice a year is meeting a cool response from education experts.

Critics say that the plan, due to begin next September, is largely unworkable because state universities are still struggling with a lack of basic facilities and teaching staff.

If there are any universities with the capacity to admit new students twice a year, the number of high school graduates that can benefit from it would be very small, they said.

Upon announcing the plan earlier this month, Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar said the idea behind holding the tests twice a year is to give people better chances to pursue degrees in higher education and, in doing so, speeding up improvement of human resources nationwide.

The new policy will now allow every citizen to enter college irrespective of age and, if they fail the entrance test, they will be allowed to take it again as many times as they wish.

The plan, however, has yet to be discussed with rectors to seek input as to whether it can start in September for the first test and in January, 2003 for the second.

Former education and culture minister Wardiman Djojonegoro is among those pessimistic about the effectiveness of the policy, largely because of the universities' limited capacity.

Altogether, Indonesia has 52 state-run universities with 76,000 seats available every year -- while 458,351 people graduate from high school every year.

Wardiman insisted that the plan was a mere technical matter of providing a wider access to higher education to the people.

"It's no big deal -- whether to hold entrance tests twice, three times or more," he said, "as long as it overcomes the social problems that stem from the growing number of unemployed high school graduates."

Wardiman believes that the most effective way to absorb senior high school graduates is by opening more universities.

Many leaders of state universities have also been critical of the plan. They do not see it as being feasible, due to inadequate facilities, teaching staff and overall funding.

The rector of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Ichlasul Amal, said on Tuesday the plan was not practical "because it needs a huge operational cost to implement".

To hold entrance tests twice means that a university must increase the facilities and infrastructure needed for the teaching and learning processes -- including laboratories and lecture spaces, he said.

Amal said his university will not implement the two-test system until it has enough supporting facilities and staff.

But not everyone is skeptical about the plan.

Educator Arief Rachman, for example, praised the idea of the plan as a "good starting point" for the move towards the decentralization of education.

The tests should no longer be conducted by the Ministry of National Education, but by the respective universities, he said.

Under the current system, state university entrance tests are centralized.